Just when you thought Tesla and Jaguar were going to have it easy with their respective all-electric Model X and I-Pace models, Mercedes-Benz have made their entrance to the era of electromobility with their brand new Mercedes-Benz EQC 400 4MATIC – and they’re not here to mess around.
The EQC is one of a whopping ten all-electric models that Mercedes-Benz is expected to launch before the year 2025; clearly a sign of the German manufacturer’s dedication to their vision of the future.
Equipped with a sizeable 80kWh battery pack, the EQC achieved a claimed range of 249 miles on the new WLTP cycle. For a 2425kg behemoth of an SUV that isn’t a bad figure at all, but it’s worth mentioning it falls behind both the I-Pace and the Model X for range, which both feature larger battery capacities. In real life, you can probably expect around 200 miles of real-world driving, which is decent without being ground-breaking.
You can potentially rapidly charge the chunky battery pack too, with 110kW DC charging allowing a 10-80% charge in just forty minutes. On top of that, future owners of the EQC need not get green with envy over Tesla’s Supercharger network; Shell in partnership with the high-powered charging network operator IONITY is currently rolling out a 350kW ultra-rapid charging network across select European countries – including Great Britain. By 2020, Shell hopes to have 400 stations with an average of six charging points per station in its network.
IONITY is a joint venture with the mission to build Europe’s leading high power charging network for electric vehicles to facilitate long-distance travel. It was founded by the Daimler AG (Mercedes-Benz), BMW Group, Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen Group with Audi and Porsche with other automotive manufacturers invited to help expand the network.
Bookmark our electric vehicle charging point finder to find IONITY charging points as they become available across the UK.
Mercedes-Benz has fitted the EQC with a potent-sounding 402bhp and 564lb ft of torque through all four wheels, to ensure the sheer mass can be shifted along the road with the immediate progress that the market has come to expect from EVs these days. As a result, the EQC will complete the 0-60MPH sprint in a hot hatch-busting 5.1 seconds, and move on to a limited top speed of 112MPH. It’s not going to de-throne Tesla any time soon, but it will easily hold its own on roads crowded with V6 and V8 SUVs.
As the name gently nods towards, the EQC is based upon a very heavily modified version of the current-gen GLC, the conventionally-powered mid-sized SUV sold by Mercedes today. Whilst the EQC keeps the same kind of silhouette and layout as the GLC, both the exterior and interior have been extensively redesigned – presumably to make sure Merc’s new electric range stands out against their dinosaurs.
Whilst modern-looking, the EQC isn’t exactly what you’d call ‘alien’. The SUV still features a conventional-looking front grille setup, which suggests that Mercedes may well carry this design language forward to their future fossil fuel models. Again, inside, the interior is modern without reinventing the wheel. You’ll find large dual LCD screens displaying your infotainment and instruments – which is found even on today’s A-Class – and Merc’s signature sweeping dashboard design. You’ll find extra hints of blue inside (because EV equals blue, obviously), but beyond that this has been intentionally designed as part of the Mercedes family.
The Mercedes EQC 400 4MATIC will be eligible for the Plug-In Car Grant of £3,500 which will be applied to the final invoice price which is expected to be around £60,000 OTR, which is a jump of over £20,000 over a base GLC. Customer deliveries are expected to begin in Q3 2019.
